To be a circulent, someone who circulates clothes has never been as easy and natural as when one is about to have their own children. Children grow fast and clothes need to be changed frequently. If you are one of those who have family members or friends with children a little bit older than yours you might end up with plenty of gifts and cheap ways to buy second-hand. Some second-hand stores sell plenty of children’s clothes and if you’re lucky to live near one of them or find an online store that works for you, you can keep the climate and environmental footprint of your children’s closet low. But what about maternity leave clothes? Do we as easily exchange those? Can we find maternity leave second-hand clothes somewhere? At some point, you might end up needing certain items such as leggings or bras and therefore we have created this guide for you to find the best sustainable options for a special and amazing time in your (or maybe your partner or friends) life.

Boob

One of the most well-known and loved brands when it comes to sustainable maternity leave is Boob. They have strong commitments to social sustainability where all the factories need to follow their Code of Conduct and respect human rights. The factories are located in Portugal, Greece, Morocco, India, Turkey and Italy. All materials are sustainable sources and can be traced. The materials used are organic cotton, LENZING™ ECOVERO™ (wood pulp for responsibly managed forests), TENCEL™ LYOCELL (cellulose fibre), recycled polyester, left over materials (from their own production) and so on.

The company holds one of the most strict standards for sustainable textile brands, GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard), and the first choice of materials has the STANDARD 100 by OEKO-TEX® certificate to contain as few chemicals as possible. They also follow the EU legislation on chemical substances REACH. They are also expanding the possibility for customers to rent instead. First out is Sweden where customers can rent through Hyber.

At Boob you can find everything from dresses, active wear, nightwear, nursing bras, shorts and so on.

Pact

Here you can find a material and factory list on each item! All the items are GOTS certified and the company has done their homework with a lifecycle assessment to truly analyse the environmental benefits of organic cotton. They have partnered with Fair Trade Certified™ factories to make sure workers’ rights are met. Some of the criteria include minimum wage being paid, the establishment of worker’s unions, development of fair trade community funds and so on. The maternity collection includes bras, robe, leggings, tops, shorts, underwear and pants.

Christy Dawn

The popular US-based brand has several dresses and clothes made suitable for moms-to-be and breastfeeding. But you could also wear them as loose-fit clothing after maternity leave. Some of the materials used are deadstock (left over from textile factories), organic cotton and regenerative cotton also dyed with organic dyes. The clothes are produced in Los Angeles, except the Farm-to-Closet collection which is produced in India with the ambition to regenerate farm lands and empower farmers.

Sézane

Is on their journey to work fully with sustainable materials. Currently, 82% of silk is Oeko-Tex 100 certified, 83% of cotton is organic and 68% of viscose is FSC Mix certified. Half of their items are certified according to GOTS and Oeko-Tex Standard 100. Sézane is officially B Corp certified which means that they have undergone an analysis of their sustainability work, everything from the choice of materials to working conditions has been checked. All of their locations are run by renewable energy, shipping happens in recycled cupboards and 13 000 items have been recycled in their recycling program. They have a capsule maternity leave collection with items tested and approved by their team. Enjoy beautiful shirts, tops, jackets and jumpers beyond the simple traditional design of maternity leave.

4 sustainable brands for maternity leave

Boob

Pact

Christy Dawn

Sézane

Soul Factory - a business, inner and sustainable clothing journey

ELV DENIM - with the vision to make denim more sustainable